Jack’s Blog

In society, there seem to be just as many negative fans than there are those who pull for a certain team/player.  By negative fan, I mean someone who roots for a team or player to lose.  Whether it be for jealous reasons or revenge or because that team/player is a threat to their favorite, that attitude ranks somewhere between childish and self-destructive.

How did this type of behavior come about?  My belief is its origins are from, for lack of a better term, losers?  Let’s start with people who think Tiger Woods’ infidelity was so heinous, he doesn’t deserve to ever win again.  That’s understandable, especially if the offended person was a victim of a cheating spouse.  But don’t waste time hoping for his demise.  Rather, put him out of your mind completely.  Should you be addicted to watching professional golf, select someone you relate to, whose game you admire, or simply watch for the purest competition of golf, which is the player vs. the course.  It’s a great deal healthier.

Those in Baltimore who wanted to see the Colts fall flat on their facemasks after bolting town under the cover of darkness could be excused for spewing venom at their former favorite squad, but it’s never been proven that curses, hexes and voodoo work (well, maybe in Chicago, but no longer in Boston).  Instead, choose another team (and not “the one that plays the Colts”) or follow another sport.  The Orioles were still in town.

From 1991-95, I was associate head basketball coach at USC.  This was during the time of the OJ Simpson double murder case.  Our director of athletics called a meeting and had a professional counselor come in so we could discuss our feelings.  One of the questions brought up by an employee of the department (who, granted, was an SC graduate and whose only place of employment was in Heritage Hall) was, “How are we supposed to deal when our UCLA friends make jokes?”

This inane question elicited the remark from me which didn’t increase my chances of being on the guest list of upcoming Trojan events.  “Wait.  This isn’t a USC-UCLA thing.  It’s about two people getting brutally murdered.  I mean, would we even be having this meeting if the suspect was Kareem instead of OJ?”

I know of a coach who lost his job and spent more time badmouthing his old school and its new coach (actually, there have been scores of situations identical to this one) than he did when he was coaching.  A remark I made to a friend regarding people like this was that there were two things that could happen in a game - the team lost, or it won.

If they lost - and the coach was told the former coach was gloating, it didn’t make the current coach feel any worse because, for anybody who has ever coached, you know that after a loss, you can’t feel worse.  However, if the team won and the coach heard that he was being slandered around town, well, it seems news like this can always make the win feel a little sweeter.

So, those of you in Cleveland - or for that matter, those who want to see LeBron fail in his new digs at South Beach - rethink it.  With all the talent he has, and all that’s surrounding him, chances are you’ll be disappointed way more than you’ll be happy.

Anytime you think of adopting this “root against” attitude, just remember that if you do:

“You have no control over your happiness; it’s now in the hands of someone else.”

. . . I’m in Las Vegas at one of the many tournaments. 

 The blogs will return on Wednesday.

Summer’s officially here and with it, the camp/tournament circuit.  UCLA camp today & Sunday  Since I do blogs “the night before,” we’ll probably get back too late Sunday for an entry.  Late Monday night I’ll be blogging about an experience I had at NCAA headquarters - and how we actually got a rule amended. 

See you Tuesday.

Buchanan High School’s graduation was held last night and that event, coupled with all that I’ve had to do during this, our last week of school have rendered me incapable of producing a blog worthwhile reading.  It’s after midnight and I’m absolutely beat.

See you tomorrow - with something worthwhile.

Please accept my apology for not alerting you that I’d be out of town at our younger son’s AAU tournament in the Bay Area this past weekend.  I simply forgot.

This blog will return tomorrow.

it means I must be off to watch the Buchanan Bears in a basketball tournament.  This one’s in Rocklin (near Sacramento).  The guys won last night, so they play in the championship side of the bracket at 6:30 pm.  That gives me enough time to leave school at 3:00 and make it for tipoff (approx. a two and a half hour drive). 

Blogs will return Monday.�

Buchanan HS won their first round game at the DeLaSalle Tournament.  I’m on my way to watch #2 son and the rest of the Bears.  Next post will probably be Sunday night (for Monday).  Thanks for your loyalty & I promise to have some interesting posts for you upon return.

What is the American spectator’s favorite sport?

Not too much intrigue here, as I imagine by now, everybody would have figured out what our country’s favorite spectator sport is - second guessing.  Oh yeah, of course.  After all, that’s what makes watching sports so much fun.  You, the fan/expert, telling your friends at the sports bar what the manager/coach/player should do.  Then, if what you say should be done, actually is done - and it works, you look like the genius you’re passing yourself off as.  Kinda like there was a microphone planted & whoever made the brilliant move did so because of your wisdom.

But what if he/she/they don’t do what you recommend?  Two possibilities: what actually happened didn’t work out (you knew that all along - see, that’s why people should be paying more  and closer attention to your brilliance) OR what actually happened did work (in which case you say, “Yeah, but had it been done my way, the results would have been as - or even more - productive”).

The one bugaboo: What you espouse is the option chosen but the results don’t work out.  That’s when you extol the sensational defense or counter move executed by the opponent or, what you said is simply something to set up the opponent for a similar opportunity later in the contest or, how no matter if the correct move is made, how much of a factor luck plays in sports, and on and on with a litany of excuses which you truly believe make you look even more knowledgable than when you made the initial remark.

The line that has always broken me up is the classic: “They went to the well once too often.”  Here’s what I’ve always wondered: “How do you know you’ve gone to the well once too often - until you’ve actually been there once too often?”  If a guy throws six straight fast balls and no one’s touched him, then he gets rocked on the seventh, how was he supposed to know the seventh one was the “once too often?”  Why didn’t he question after, maybe, the fourth one, “I don’t know, will the fifth will be once too often?”  Or, the football team that runs the ball four plays in a row and gains 7, 9, 15 and 8 yards, then runs it & gets stuffed at the line.  Went to the well once too often!  A basketball team pounds it inside to their stud post player in a tight game five times in a row and he scores or gets fouled - or both - each time.  On the sixth, he gets rejected or stripped or forced into a turnover.  Went to the well once too often!

When it comes down to commentators or fans, the rule of thumb is basically this:

“People who have all the answers don’t know all the questions.”

P.S. This blog (first posted on 6/21/07) was selected for today after I watched Game 5 of the ALCS last night and, although I wasn’t with the self-proclaimed expert, was close enough to hear his every comment.  His knowledge on when to make pitching changes alone (for both managers) ruined the evening - and I had no vested interest in which team won.

P.P.S. I must be losing it!  The last thing I do each night before going to bed is write the next day’s blog.  However, for it to be dated the following day, I have to wait until 11:00 pm to hit “Publish.”  Usually that’s not a problem as I seldom finish before 11.  Last night I finished a little earlier and went to bed, knowing I’d be waking up in an hour and a half (as I do every night, like clockwork - whether due to the drugs I take for my back pain, getting older, or some other mysterious reason).  Last night, though, I simply forgot to publish the blog - and didn’t realize it until I just sat down in front of the computer tonight (Friday) at midnight.  So here’s the Friday blog, published on Saturday.

Flew yesterday to New Jersey. Weather there so bad the plane had to go as far north as Syracuse to avoid thunderstorms. Got to hotel at 3am. Blogs will return Tuesday night.

It’s 1:21 am and I’ve been been blogging for two hours.  It’s well-documented how        un-computer savvy I am, but this one might top the list.  After getting to the end of this post (which I thought was terrific - although I possibly could be considered biased), I looked up and everything I’d posted was gone!  And I can’t find it anywhere.

With whatever minimal skill I have, I’ve tried to locate it, but still cannot figure it out.  If I do, I’ll repost tomorrow.  For now, I’m going to bed.

See you tomorrow.

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